Pub. 1 2021 Issue 2

21 CONTINUED ON PAGE 22 My background has always been in the service business. I studied diesel technology at college, and then I went into road construction after that. I applied all of what I learned to the construction work I did. Now that we have the dealership, my background has really helped us with our shop. other companies we can sel l to. We specify how we want Ford to bui ld the trucks, then we set the trucks up and support them after we’ve sold them. Q: How did you go from owning an independent automotive repair shop to being the general manager for the local Ford dealership in 2006? A: When I got married, I quit working in the construction industry and went to work for the county for a year. I repaired cars in the evening, by myself at first, and then with a friend when it got busy. Eventually I opened an independent store and started selling used cars. In 2006, the Ford garage needed a manager, and then the owner wanted to sell the dealership. I shut down the independent store, and I managed the dealership until Ford approved our franchise purchase. Q: What did your repair shop years teach you? A: Most of what I learned is about customer service and the ins and outs of the repair industry. I learned how to work on all kinds of makes and models. We sell very few trucks, so I lean heavily to the service side of the business. I do a little bit of selling with fleet stuff, and I do bed and truck layout configurations depending on what the vehicle will be used for, whether it’s a flatbed, crane or Tommy lift. That’s what I’ve always done. Q: You bought the Ford dealership, changed the name to Rehbein Ford, and opened for business in October 2008. That was right in the middle of the Great Recession. Tell us about that adventure. A: It was an awful time when it happened, but I am happy I went through it because it taught me to be prepared and save money. Marvin and I built a brand-new store that opened July 24, 2008, and we moved in right after that. We changed the name of the dealership in October. January 2009 was the worst month ever. We sold one truck and had to lay off a couple of people. Our general manager had a strong background in service, so we transitioned to doing just service. After three months, we hired everybody back. The best thing I learned from the recession was to be cautious. You can work your whole life to build something, and you don’t realize how fast you can lose it. We take a close look at anything we do that will increase overhead or cost a lot of money to make sure we get a good return on the investment. Much of the credit for surviving the Great Recession goes to my uncle. He had a financial background, which helped us, and he also helped with money to make it through. He doesn’t do a lot of the day-to-day business, but he constantly sells when he travels. Q: How did your dealership do during and after the pandemic closedown in March 2020? What lessons did you learn, and how did the many product shortages affect your business? A: We’re in a little rural town. We don’t fly because we never took off that much, and we never soar. We always have one foot dragging on the ground. As a result, the pandemic didn’t cause much of a change. But we did focus again on the service department. We had a decent inventory, and things were fine. Parts were the biggest issue because the time it took to get parts was inconsistent. Only one service technician came down with COVID-19. Nobody else did. That’s probably because we are in a very rural town. For an example of just how rural we are, we are located in Sanders county, and there are no stoplights in the entire county. Q: Many dealerships are open Sundays, but not Rehbein Ford. Is that typical for the area? Tell us about that business decision. A: It’s typical for the area’s stores to be closed Sunday. We’ve never been open for anything unless, maybe, there is a promotion. It’s a family day. You’ve got to have time with your family. There’s an old saying: You work to live, you don’t